Vending-machine.



R. H. SMiTH.

VENDING MACHINE nmcmon FILED act. 22. mo.

Patented Feb. 12', 1918 5 SHEETS-"MEET 3 N in be mm .Q% g Q mv M KK vwemtot I W M R. H. SMITH.

VENDING moms.

APPLICATION FILED 06L. Hi6.

nu m m m M m L I i I M I I U i .I

n. n. smm. vennms MACHINE. i

APPUCATIOI FILED ocnza. lal'el Patented Faun 1918' 5 SHEETS-5HEE T k R. H. SMITH.

VENDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 2!. Hi6.

Patented Feb. 12,1918.

b IHENHHEET 5.

UNITED STATES nominn. s'mrrn, or ALBEMABLE, non'rn canonml.

vnnmne-mncnnm. l

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 12, 1018.

Application filed October 23, 1916. Serial No. 127,185.

To all whom it may concern."

Be it known that I, Ronnn'r H. SMITH, a

I citizen of the United States, residing at Albemarle, in the count of Stanly and State of North Carolina, liave invented certain new and useful Improvements in Vending-Machines, of which the following is a specification. 1

This invention relates to vending machines and has particular reference to machines for vending stamped envelo s and postal cards, although it is adapted or dispensing other articles which may be put up in flat form. One object of the invention is to provide novel means whereby a single post card or stamped envelop may be delivered to a purchaser and a further object ofv the invention is to provide novel means whereby after all the postals or envelops have been sold, the operation of the machine will be prevented until a fresh stock" has been placed therein. A further object of the invention is to provide. novel means for feeding the goods successively to the point of delivery and for returning the operating mechanism to its initial position. A further object of the invention is to rovide novel means for locking the operating lever and its shaft to the feeding mechanism and also to provide novel means for retaining the coins or checks in the chamber or drum which receives them until after the goods have been delivered and then permitting the coins or checks to gravitate to the coin box.

The invention is fully illustrated in the accompanying drawings and consists in certain novel features which will be hereinafter first fully described and then more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a perspective view'of a vending machine embodying my present improvements;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same with the top removed and the inclosing casing shown in horizontal section;

Fig. 3 is a front elevation with the front doors or wall of the casing removed;

Fig. 4 is a transverse vertical section on the line 4.-4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a vertical transverse section on the line 5-5 of Fig. 3;

Figs. 6 and 7 are detail views of the coin-- receiving chambers and the parts immediately adjacent the same;

Fig. 8 IS a detail pers ective view of a portion of the operating sliaft and the lever secured thereto;

Fig. 9 is a detail perspective view of one of the coin-receiving chambers or drums;

Fig. 10 is a detail pers ective view of the mechanism for closing the coin tube after all the stock in the machine has been sold.

Fig. 11 is a detail plan view of the fin er bar and the cam connected therewith which causes the coin stop or 'cut-ofi' to enter the coin tube after the stock has been exhausted;

Fig. 12 is a detail view showing the stop inserted into the oin tube- In carrying out my invention, I employ a casing 1 which may be of any convenient or preferred form and material. In the pres- 1 ant instance, this casing is shown as a rectangular frame having a door 2 for its back wall to permit the placing of stock within the machine and having two glazed doors 3 for its front wall which cover the stock containing compartments and permit a view of the same at all times. The operating lever 4 is disposed in an intermediate compartment between the stock-receiving compartments and projects through a vertical slot 5 in the front wall of the casing, as clearly shown. Above the slot 5 and lever 4 isan instruction plate 6 containing directions-"for the operation of the machinevand below the said instruction plate are coin slots 7 for" the admission of. the coins or checks in the operation of the machine. As shown clearlv in Figs. 2- and 3, partitions 8 are provided within the casing, thereby-dividing the ill terior of the easing into three compartments the end or side compartments constituting, the'stock containirg chambers while the'in-' 1 termediate compartment contains the Drier-.95 ating mechan sm. The coin slots 7, in the front wall of the casing, coincide with the upper ends of the coin tubes 9 which lead inwardly and downwardly so-as to direct the coins deposited' therein into slots 10 in the o crating shaft 11. Other coin tubes 12 are ispoeed within the intermediate conipartment in the vertical planes of the coin tubes 9 and lead into a money box or drawer 13 arranged at the lower end of the mtermediate compartment, as clearly shown in Fig. 5. The operating lever 4 is secured to the shaft 11 preferably at the center of the same and extends through the slot 5 in the front wall of the casing, as before stated. in position to be readily grasped by a person desiring goods from the machine. The lever is of the ogce shape shown in the drawings, and a spring 14. is arrarged between the lever and the back wall of the casing and tends to hold the lever in its'uppermost position. The spring may be attached directly to the lever, as is obviors,'but I prefer to rovide a link or red 15 extending from the ever and receivirg the front end of the spring. as bending of the spring is therebv m'nimized and praci'ically eliminated. Mounted loosely upon the operatirg shaft are co'n-receivirg chambers or drums 16 and 17 whch are consiructed with longitudinal slots 18 adapted to register with the coin tubes 9 ard with the slots 10 in the shaft 11.- As shown clearly n Figs. 6 and 7, the slots 18 extend entirely through the coin-receivirg chambers or drun' s and the coins are supported within the said slots by keepers or retainers 19, each consisting of a resilient plate secured at one end upon the front s de of-the con receptacle or drum and having *its lower end extending under and across the slot and provided with a depending lip or flange 20 at its extre n'ty. as the drum or co n receptacle is oscillated, in the operation of the mach'ne, the lip or flange 20 w ll be brought against the upper end of the adjacent coin tube 12 and will be thereby forced from under the slot 18 so that the coins may escape and will thereupon gravitate throvgh the coin tube 12 to the money box. The coin receptacles or drums are of ditferent le gihs but are otherwise exact duplicates. The receptacle 16 s of such len th that it will receive and hold two (301115, the upper coin reetir upon the lower one and extendirg partly into the slot 10 of the shaft 11 so as to serve as a key to lock the drum or co n receptacle to the shaft. Th s is'clearlv shownin Fig. 7 in wh ch 21 designates the lower co n and 22 the upper con; The recentacle or drum 17 is of such leng'ih that it will accommodate four coins. the uppermost coin, indicated at 23 in F1g. 6. serving as a key to lock the receptacle to the shaft.

Mv machine is intended primarily for vending pcstals and stamped envelops wh ch retail respect vely for one cent and three ce ts each. When stock is placed inthe machine, the owner of the mach ne will deposit onecent or a check of like size and weight in each coin tube and this check will gravitate through the tube into the coin receptacle 16 or 17, as the case may be, and will be held by the keeper 19. When a customer desires to purchase a postal, he will insert one cent in the proper coin slot 7 and this cent will descend to and rest upon the coin already in the tube and lock the drum to the shaft, as shown in Fig. 7. press the operatirg lever 4 so as to oscillate the shaft 11 and th s oscillation will be transmitted through the upper coin 22 to the drum or chanber 16 so that the said drum will be swui'g rearwardly and the lip 20 carried against the lower coin tube 12. The retainer or keeper 19 will, therefore, be

The customer will then deforced from across the end of the slot 18 and the lower coin will then at once pass into the tube 12 and to the money box. The up per coin, however, will not be permitted to escape inasn'mch as it will be clamped between :1 wall of the slot 10 and the opposite wall of the slot 18 and, consequently, will co: tinue to act as a key to lock the shaft and drum together until the lever has been retlllLGd to its uppermost position whereupon the pressure upon the coin will be removed and the coin will drop to and rest upon the keeper 19. If the custonter desires a stamped envelop, he will insert three coins throrgh the proper coin slot 7 and the last coin inserted will serve as a key to lock the shaft 11 to the drum 1?, as shown at 23 in v Fig. 6. \Vhen the lever is then oscillated,

the keeper 19 will be moved from across the end of the slot 18. as before described, and the lower three coin will be permitted to drop through the coin tube 12 into the money box, the uppermost coin being retained between the shaft and the drum until the lever returns to its uppermost position.

Formed integral with or rigidly secured to each drum or coin receptacle 16 or 17 is a radial arm or crank 24 which projects forwardly from the drum and is held normally in the posiiion shown in Fig. 5 by a spring 25 attached to the arm or crank -and to tf-e'adjacent partition 8. as will be readily orders-teed. To the forward or free end of this crank or arm 24 I pivotally attach the upper end of a link 26 the lower end of which is pi o ed to the front end of a lever or yok 27 fulcrumed upon the shaft 28 of the lower roller 29 which carries the article 7 tance sufiicicnt to feed thc'conveyer one step. 4 1.

Backward movem nt of he conveyor isprevented by a dog 32 which 1s pivoted upon 7 the partition 8 below the ratchet wheel and enga es the same, as shown in Fig. 5. It will e readily understood that, when the lever 4 is oscillated, after the insertion of a coin or coins, as before stated, the fllll1'2-l:, link 26 and lever 27 will be operated so that the shaft 28 will be partly turned, but if no coin has been inserted and the lever be depressed, the shaft 11 will simply rock within the drums 16 and 17 without actuating any of the described mechanism.

The turning of the shaft 28 in the manner just described will feed the article conveyer one step so that the article will be in position to be delivered. The arrangement may be such that the article will be delivered by gravity after reaching delivery position but,

in order to insure positive delivery of the desired article, I provide a rock shaft 33 in the lower end of the article holding compartment and this rock shaft has one end extending through the partition 8. Upon the extended end of the said shaft is a crank 34 equipped with a pin or tooth 35 and a lifter or lever 36 is pivoted upon the free end of the crank 24 and depends therefrom past the pin 35. as shown in Fig. 5. In the front edge of this lifter or lever 36 is a re cess or no ch 37 which. on downward movement of the lever, will slip over the pin 35 and permit the lever to ride freely over the same. On the upward movement of the lever, the lower wall or end of this notch or recess will engage the pin 35 and thereby swing the arm-34 upwardly and forwardly so as to rock the shaft 33. A in or lug 38 on the adjacent partition 8 ears against the r ar edge of this lifter or lever 36 and thereby holds it to the pin 35 throughout its movement. A projection 39 is provided on the shaft 33 and a spring 40 is attached to said projection and to the bottom of the casing so as to normally hold the shaft in the position illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5. In

the said illustrated position, fingers or ejectors 41', which are secured to the shaft 33, will ext-end upwardly therefrom and bear against the rollers or reels 29 in rear of the postals or envelope. \Vhen the shaft 33 is rocked by the above described action of the lifter 0r lever 36, the ejectors 41 will beswung forwardly against the tension of the spring 40 and will thereby push the lower envelop or postal from the conveyer into the hopper 42 arranged at the lower end of the casing in front of the article-containing compartment. This hopper 42 may be of any desired form and preferably has a rear extension 43 which projects into the compartment and up close to the conveyer so that thearticlc will be forced to the front of th hopper or trough and will be preven ed from falling upon the bottom of the casing. To prevent access to the article-conthrough the open top of the hopper or retaining compartment through the hopper or 66 tron h, I provide a depending guard 44 whic extends across the upper portion of the hopper and depends to an extent sufficient to prevent a postal or envelop being reached by the insertion of the fingers ceiving' trough and the subsequent bending of the sam up toward the conve er. vThe conveyer is intended to receive an feed the postals or envelope singly so that only one postal or envelop will be delivered at a time, the described pawl and ratchet feeding mechanism imparting a stepped movement to the conveyor and the parts being 50 proportioned that each movement will be equal to the distance between successive articles or article holders on the conveyor. The conveyer consists of belts 45 of anyv suitable material trained around the upper and lower rollers or drums 29 which are secured upon the respective shafts 28 journaled in an end wall of the casing and in one of the partitions 8. The upper shaft 28 is free of the actuating mechanism and it may, if desired, be j-ournaled in spring-supported bearings so that the belts 45 will be constant] under tension and will, therefore, always e held taut. Fingers 4.6, which may be small'rods, are secured to the belts 45-at regular intervals and extend therefrom. The, postals or envelops are placed between adjacent fingers, as shown clearly in Figs. 3 and 4:, and will rest freely thereon. The conveyor moves in such direction as to carry the rear run or flight of the same upwardly and the front flight thereof downwardly. As the articles more over the up or drums they will not fall away from tlie conveyor but will simply fall against and be caught by the pins respectively in advance of the same. As the pins or holders 46 swing around the lower rollers. they will assume an inclined position. as shown in Fig. 4-, so that the article will tend'to gravitate therefrom and in this position the ejectors 41 push against the rear edge of th article so that it will be positively delivered into the trough-- or hopper 42.

Pivoted upon the front wall of the casing, adjacent the upper end of the coin tube 9, is a stop or cut-0647 consisting of an areaate plate or hook having its free end varupon the pusher lever 49 and swings the this pusher lever 49 is constructed with a notch 52 which receives the workin end 58 of a cam or lever 54 which is fu crumed upon a bracket 55 projecting from the front wall of the casing. This lever 54 is extended throughthe adjacent partition 8 and bent laterally, as shown at 56, so as to extend toward the free edges of the postals or envelops and is then carried across the stock compartment and provided with upstanding fingers 57 which are so disposed as to be engaged by the edges of the postals or envolops. A spring 58, heavier than the spring 51, holds the fingers toward the stock, said spring being secured at its opposite ends to the lever and the adjacent partition re spectively. As the postals or envclops ride upon and pass the fingers 57, they exert sufficient pressure thereon to overcome the tension of the spring 58, and the cam face 53, therefore. does not exert any force upon the pusher 49 which is merely held in contact with said cam face by the spring 51. As Soon, however, as the last envelop or postal has been carried past the fingers 57, the

spring 58 is free to act and at once swings the lever 5+1 about its pivotal connection with the bracket 55 so that the cam face 53 acts same about its pivot, overcoming the spring 51and causing the upper end of the pusher to project the cut-off -17 into the coin tube 9 so that coins cannot be inserted therein until the stock has been replenished.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. The combination of a shaft having a longitudinally extending coin-receiving slot, a drum loosely mounted on the shaft and depending therefrom and provided with a slot adaptrd to register with the slot in the shaft, a retainer carried by the drum and extending over the lower end of the slot therein to support coi in said slot in superposed relation with t e uppermost coin extending into the slot in the sha-f t to lock the shaft to the drum, means for oscillating the shaft, and means whereby upon oscillation of the shaft the retainer will be withdrawn from over the slot in the drum to release some of the coins.

2. The combination of a shaft having a coin-rcceiving slot. a drum loosely mounted on the shaft and depending therefrom and provided with a slot adapted to register with the slot in the shaft and receive the coins passing through said slot, :1 spring retainer plate secured upon the side of the drum and extending under the lower end thereof and across the lower end of the slot therein where to support the coins in' superposed r ation with the uppermpst coin.

shaft and the drum the retainer plate will be caused to uncover the slot in the drum and permit discharge of some of the coins.

3. The combination of a shaft constrncted to receive a check, a drum looselv mounted on the shaft and depending therefrom and constructed to receive and support a. plurality of pieces in superposed relation below the s aft whereby the uppermost check will act as a key to lock the drum to the shaft, means for rocking the shaft, means for directing a check into the shaft, and means whereby when the shaft is rocked some of the checks will be released from the drum and the key-acting check will be retained.

4. The combination of a shaft, means for oscillatin the same, a coin tube disposed below the shaft, a drum mounted loosely upon and depending from the shaft, the shaft and the drum being provided with slots to receive checks, and a retainer on the drum extending across the slot therein to retain the checks in said slot whereby one of said checks will lock the drum to the shaft, said retainer being constructed to en gage the coin tube upon oscillation of the shaft and be thereby moved from over the slot in the drum and release the checks.

5. The combination of a shaft having a slot therein, a drum mounted loosely on the shaft and having a slot adapted to register with the slot in the shaft, a coin tube disposed below the drum in the plane of the slot therein, and a retainer secured on the drum and extending across the slot therein to support co ns in said slot and provided with :1 depending hp adapted to impinge against the com tube whereby upon oscillation of the drum scmeof the coins will be released anddsposited in the coin tube.

6. The combination of a conveyor, an o crating shaft, a drum loosely mounted on t 1e shaft, the drum and the shaft being constructed to receive a kev whereby the drum will be locked to the shaft, an ejector disposed adjacent the corygyer, and means whereby upon oscillation of the drum a step by step movem nt will be imparted to the convever and the ejector will. be actuated to deliver an article from the c n eyer.

7. The combination of a shaft, a drum looselv mounted on the shaft, the drum and the shaft being constructed to receive a key whereby the drum will be locked to the shaft, a rock shaft. an ei ctor extending radially from the rock shaft, means for yieldably holding the rock shaft in a set position, and means whereby upon oscillation of the drum the rock shaft will be rocked and the ejector will be actuated to deliver an arbtxcle.

8. The combination of an operating shaft, a rock shaft disposed below the same, an ejector on said rock shaft, a crank arm on said shaft, an operating arm carried loosely on the operating shaft and adapted to be 10 locked thereto, and a lifter carried by said operating arm and constructed to ride past the crank arm on the rock shaft in one direction of its movement and engage said arm and actuate said shaft in the other direction 15 of its movement. f m

In testimony whereo I a :5 my si ature.

RGBERT H. SMITH. 5.

mm 0! this "teat. nay be obtained tor five cents each, by addressing the "Commoner 02 2mm, Wuhlngton, D. G." 

